Soo.... Fairly new to this. Had a tank as a child with a few fish in it but i wasnt the one taking care of it then. I'd been wanting to get into this for a while now and my husbands mom heard this and literally gave us her brand new tank set up with fish bc she started this and didnt realize how much effort and time it would take. so this is what she gave us: its a 65 gallon tank (not long style, its taller and wider front to back than standard breeder style) and cabinet that came with it. The fish she had in it were: 1 angelfish (whole thing fins and all are about half dollar size) 6 cherry barbs, 10 zebra danios, 1 clown pleco, 2 emerald green corys, 3 blue dwarf gouramis, and two golden mystery snails. also for substrate is white small-medium varying sized gravel. an eheim heater that says for up to 75 gallons (i bought two different thermometers, one is a decorative digital one and one is a regular mercury therm. at opposite ends of the tank. the temp stays about 78) the filter is an aqueon filter for this size aquarium. Not a canister one, it hangs on the back. From what she told us, she had this set up for 2 days before putting fish in it. had the whole thing, fish and all for 2 weeks before giving it to me last week. Only things I have added is several live plants and 2 pieces of aquatic wood. I have the master test kit for freshwater and for several days, everything was perfect. no ammonia or nitrates. pH 7.0. then yesterday, 2 cherry barbs died. found them floating at the top. I used seachem Prime from the day i got it. I didnt find out about a product called seachem stability until yesterday or id have used that but i think that may be more for brand new tanks. I also have put flourish plant food in there twice but have since decided to hold off on more of that until i get this thing straightened out. i tested the water yesterday and got a reading of .50 ppm. I immediately went and bought ammo lock which is supposed to make the ammonia not as toxic to the fish i guess. So i put that in yesterday and will again tomorrow. I read that this doesnt decrease the actual ammonia so i will still have the same readings. my current issue is that the angelfish seems not active at all, it just sits there in the back behind everything. I literally have to put a few fish flakes on top of it if i can catch it close to the top and by itself to even get it to eat anything. i bought frozen brine shrimp yesterday but it wont go get it. and then i have another cherry barb that seems to be mainly floating,... upside down, sideways and seems dead but then all of a sudden, it starts swimming again. I have cupped this fish in my hand towards the top of the tank and put flakes there so nothing else could get them and it wont even try to eat. Im sure thats not what i should have done but was just trying to get it to eat something. I feel like one by one all the fish are going to die and ill just have to do it the correct way but if there is anything else i could be doing to save these poor fish, Id love to know. I know this was long but wanted to give most info possible. i know the move had to be stressful on them as well as the tank cycling.... oh and also, I did a 25% water change yesterday and to put water back in i used the top fin brand tropical fish preconditioned water. I bought that thinking that might help. I made sure it was the right temp and pH. Please let me know what you guys think!!
Help! New to this and "inherited" a pretty new tank with fish...
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Hi and welcome to the forum 
Reduce feeding to 2 times per week. Use flake food, not frozen food.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding.
You can buy a basic model gravel cleaner (like the one in the following link) from any pet shop or make one from a 1.5 - 2 litre plastic drink bottle and length of garden hose. Cut the bottom off the bottle and throw that bit away. Put a garden hose in the top of the bottle and run the hose out onto the lawn. Start draining the tank and push the bottle into the substrate and lift it up. The gravel will circulate in the bottle and drop down, while the gunk gets drawn up and out with some water.
https://www.about-goldfish.com/aquarium-cleaning.html
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Use new buckets for the fish. Do not use a bucket that has been used for chemicals or cleaning products because it can poison the fish.
In about a month or so the filters will have cycled (developed good bacteria) and the ammonia and nitrite levels should stay on 0. When that happens you can feed once a day and do a 75% water change once a week.
Reduce feeding to 2 times per week. Use flake food, not frozen food.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding.
You can buy a basic model gravel cleaner (like the one in the following link) from any pet shop or make one from a 1.5 - 2 litre plastic drink bottle and length of garden hose. Cut the bottom off the bottle and throw that bit away. Put a garden hose in the top of the bottle and run the hose out onto the lawn. Start draining the tank and push the bottle into the substrate and lift it up. The gravel will circulate in the bottle and drop down, while the gunk gets drawn up and out with some water.
https://www.about-goldfish.com/aquarium-cleaning.html
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Use new buckets for the fish. Do not use a bucket that has been used for chemicals or cleaning products because it can poison the fish.
In about a month or so the filters will have cycled (developed good bacteria) and the ammonia and nitrite levels should stay on 0. When that happens you can feed once a day and do a 75% water change once a week.
i actually bought a battery operated gravel vac/water changer. so with the water changes, the main reason I went and bought the water is bc I was reading how to do it and i kept reading to let it sit in buckets for 24 hours with dechlroinater in it and bring it up to same temp and pH as the tank. but this means i cant do an immediate change. and then i did buy a bucket specifically for this and has only been used for this. but now if i have to let 48 gallons of water sit in buckets overnight, i need quite a few more! can anyone advise on this? and idk how id heat all that as well.... sorry if this sounds stupid, lol just trying to do this the most right way possible considering... I will go right now and buy whatever i need to get to make this better! Also, I checked aqadvisor and what i learned is i need to find a different place for the plecco as my tank is too small and that my filter sucks so so bad.... lol. which i had kind of already figured out. but the filter is an important part of the cycling process right? so if i were to say buy a canister filter, that would be better right? but then how would a brand new filter affect the cycle that has already started?
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If the battery gravel cleaner has a mesh bag and sucks water into the bag before returning the water to the tank, then get rid of it. You want a normal basic gravel cleaner to remove gunk and water from the tank.
Anything that breaks down in the water (fish food, waste, dead fish, plant, etc) produce ammonia, which will kill the fish. The filter bacteria will eat ammonia and convert it into nitrite and then nitrate when the filter has cycled. But until then, you need to get as much gunk out of the tank as possible. The less gunk the lower the ammonia levels.
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Most people get a number of buckets or a couple of big plastic rubbish bins. The add some dechlorinator to the bucket and fill it with tap water. You can add hot tap water or some boiled water to get the temperature similar to the tank water. The temperature doesn't have to be exact but you want it within a couple of degrees. Then aerate the bucket of water and dechlorinator for at least 5 minutes, preferably 30 minutes or more before adding that water to the tank.
If you make the new water up before cleaning and draining the tank, the new water should be safe to use by the time you have gravel cleaned and drained the tank.
Dechlorinators break down/ neutralise chlorine/ chloramine as soon as they come in contact with each other. Aerating the water for at least 5 minutes should allow all the chlorine/ chloramine to be neutralised so the water is safe for the fish.
Aerating the water for 30 minutes or longer will help to stabilise the gases in the water. Tap water is under pressure and can lose the dissolved gases in it. Aerating the water can help get the gas levels back to normal so there are correct levels of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide in the water, and the fish won't suffocate.
With big tanks you can get a water pump like an Aquaclear 802 power head and attach some plastic hose to it. You can make a U shape from pvc pipe and put it on the end of the plastic hose so it hangs over the side of the tank. The pump is put in the bucket of dechlorinated water and plugged in, and will pump the water into the tank. Or you can just scoop the water or pour it into the tank.
Anything that breaks down in the water (fish food, waste, dead fish, plant, etc) produce ammonia, which will kill the fish. The filter bacteria will eat ammonia and convert it into nitrite and then nitrate when the filter has cycled. But until then, you need to get as much gunk out of the tank as possible. The less gunk the lower the ammonia levels.
--------------------------
Most people get a number of buckets or a couple of big plastic rubbish bins. The add some dechlorinator to the bucket and fill it with tap water. You can add hot tap water or some boiled water to get the temperature similar to the tank water. The temperature doesn't have to be exact but you want it within a couple of degrees. Then aerate the bucket of water and dechlorinator for at least 5 minutes, preferably 30 minutes or more before adding that water to the tank.
If you make the new water up before cleaning and draining the tank, the new water should be safe to use by the time you have gravel cleaned and drained the tank.
Dechlorinators break down/ neutralise chlorine/ chloramine as soon as they come in contact with each other. Aerating the water for at least 5 minutes should allow all the chlorine/ chloramine to be neutralised so the water is safe for the fish.
Aerating the water for 30 minutes or longer will help to stabilise the gases in the water. Tap water is under pressure and can lose the dissolved gases in it. Aerating the water can help get the gas levels back to normal so there are correct levels of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide in the water, and the fish won't suffocate.
With big tanks you can get a water pump like an Aquaclear 802 power head and attach some plastic hose to it. You can make a U shape from pvc pipe and put it on the end of the plastic hose so it hangs over the side of the tank. The pump is put in the bucket of dechlorinated water and plugged in, and will pump the water into the tank. Or you can just scoop the water or pour it into the tank.
also, any advice on the combination of fish in this tank?? I have read that angels can be aggressive and you shouldnt keep just one but defintely not two either. three is apparently better but thats too much for my size tank. and i apparently need to rehome the plecco and get a few more green corys??
If the pleco is a clown pleco, species Panaqolus maccus, it attains about three inches (85 mm) so it is not too big for your tank, if that was your reason for getting rid of it.
Cories neede a group, and five or six is the minimum but they will always be better the more there are, same of mixed species, so yes, increase the cories. By Emerald Green, are they Corydoras aeneus, or Corydoras splendens (may still be seen under the name Brochis splendens)? Both are peaceful, with the latter a bit larger. But a group of six or seven would still be OK. You should have sand for the substrate with cories.
On the angelfish, this is a shoaling species that needs a group of at least five. Two, three or four will almost never work out as someone will become the dominant. Five seems to avoid this though not always. As you say, your tank is not sufficient space for these. You can have a pair if they have bonded (that's another story).
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Wash and dry the gravel cleaner and put it back in the box. See if you can return it, say the other half bought one too and you don't need both. But make sure it is clean and dry. Then make one from a plastic drink bottle and garden hose.
Thanks! I will do that. Also I just realized I forgot to add that there is also what looks like a juvenile rainbow shark in his tank. And I'm not sure if they are corydoras, I'll have to put up picture. I didn't buy them so I'm going off of me having looked everything up.
Rainbow sharks aren't normally a problem in a big tank. they are vegetarian and defend a territory so they can graze on algae in it. Sometimes the males can get a bit mean and bully other fish but I have never had a problem with them in big tanks. In small tanks (less than 3 foot long) they are more likely to cause problems.
It the fish are Corydoras, they are peaceful and don't hurt anyone.
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Set your camera's resolution to its lowest setting so the images will be small enough to post on here. Use a camera flash, have the tank and room lights on, and open the curtains if its day time. The more light the better the pictures.
It the fish are Corydoras, they are peaceful and don't hurt anyone.
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Set your camera's resolution to its lowest setting so the images will be small enough to post on here. Use a camera flash, have the tank and room lights on, and open the curtains if its day time. The more light the better the pictures.
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